Not Canada’s day at beach volleyball World Tour stop

STAVANGER, Norway – Annie Martin of Sherbrooke, Que., (in photo) and Marie-Andrée Lessard of Ville LaSalle lost their third round robin match Thursday and did not advance to the elimination round at a stop on the FIVB World Tour circuit in beach volleyball.

Martin and Lessard lost to fifth seeds Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli of Brazil 21-17, 21-17. Canada’s top ranked international pair is mired in a bit of a slump after also going 0-3 at the world championships last week in Rome.

However they feel they are getting back on track.

‘’We are playing better and better,’’said Lessard, who has been battling an ankle sprain suffered earlier this month at the World Tour stop in Beijing. ‘’It’s only a question of time before we start winnning again because our level of play is getting back to what it was at the beginning of the season.’’

Meanwhile in men’s competition, Christian Redmann of Toronto and Ben Saxton of Calgary lost their first two round robin matches both in heartbreaking fashion.

They took world championship silver medallists Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Alex Costa Santos of Brazil to the limit falling 19-21, 21-19, 15-13 then dropped a 19-21, 21-17, 15-13 decision to Russians Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Kosharev.

The Canadian pair are in must win situation Friday in order to advance.